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The Story of the Alpha Line 219

was done, the effort was a success. This early success fueled even greater motivation.
The management team had created an environment of success—an environment that
clearly said, “We will do what is necessary to succeed and we expect the best from you.”
Everyone responded accordingly, as people normally do.
Did They Have the Necessary Problem Solvers in Place?
At first, the necessary problem solvers were not in place. It was key that they recog-
nized this and responded openly and honestly to it. In my experience, this honest eval-
uation and admission is not common. Most try to, instead, “just make do,” and usually
fail. However, the plant manager showed the commitment to not only start at the man-
agement level with the training, but as the effort progressed, frequent assessments were
made and the necessary training and staffing was supplied. This included the addition
of both engineering and support staff, along with the addition of a consulting firm—
ours—to provide ongoing support. Within three months, all the necessary problem
solvers with the necessary skills were in place.

Did They Have the Necessary Leadership?
So did they have the necessary leadership? The answer is a resounding, “Yes!” The
company’s leadership was evident in:
• The direct involvement and commitment of management
• Their open and honest evaluation
• Their acquisition of the necessary resources, especially of people
• Their implementation of a plan to train
• Their plan to improve
• Their creation of a metric: FTY
• Their creation of a whole series of “problems” by establishing goals for FTY
• How clearly management communicated all of this to the entire workforce.
Everyone knew the objectives and the direction of the quality initiative.
• The fact that every time there was a problem, management acted—doing so
thoughtfully, quickly, and decisively.
Leadership was especially evident in the actions
of the plant manager who spent time on all that was
Point of Clarity A good
required to make this effort a success. At every step,
he were not only involved, he was committed. He set leader will make it so clear
an excellent example. Actions by the plant manager through his/her actions that
were swift and effective. Thus, no one at the plant he/she need not say much.
ever doubted the plant’s direction and its goals.
And the results were obvious, as we have seen!

Chapter Summary
As you can see, the story of the Alpha Line is one of management commitment, leader-
ship, and support above all else. They followed the basics of cultural change (as out-
lined in Chap. 6) and in turn created a culture that was producing a better product for